The Hunely

       The Confederate Army in late 1864 was struggling to find a way to combat the North on the high seas. An inventor by the name Horace Hunley came up with a radical solution of going deep under the ocean and sneaking up on the Union ships and attaching an explosive device to the ship’s hull. He called this invention the submarine. The submarine that Horace Hunley invented was made out of a large cast iron boiler that he extended to accommodate the 9 crewmen. The submarine was powered by eight men who had to hand crank the propeller for it to move. There was one captain that steered the submarine and controlled ballast tanks which allowed the submarine to rise and sink in the water. The first mission for the Hunley took place in was against the Housatonic (a small sloop that was located in Charleston harbor in S.C.  ) the Hunley stuck a torpedo filled with black powder and blew up the Housatonic. The Irony of the successful destruction of the Housatonic was that the Hunley sank with it.The project quickly ended after the sinking of the Hunley.  

"H. L. Hunley, Confederate Submarine." Underwater Archaeology. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013. <http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-3.htm>.